


1100 Years Later...

by John_Nygma



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Reunions, Sad and Happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 20:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19731175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Nygma/pseuds/John_Nygma
Summary: The Doctor doesn't really know how it happens, but somehow he finds himself back at Bad Wolf Bay. And she's there. Many years have gone by since they last saw each other, so what will she think of his new face? And what will he think of the life she has made for herself?





	1100 Years Later...

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story three years ago, but somehow never uploaded it here. I always loved the idea of a later Doctor somehow coming back to Bad Wolf Bay and meeting Rose again. With Peter's Doctor I thought it would be quite interesting, because he's so different to the Doctor Rose got know. I made some edits, and now this story is, more or less, readable ^^

He couldn’t remember how he had gotten there. The TARDIS had suddenly been playing crazy and the Doctor had been unable to control the machine. With a loud bang which sent the Doctor over the console the blue box had landed. It took him a moment to get up and check the scanner, but of course it was unable to tell him where he was.

The Doctor was feeling strange. Uneasy. He was unsure of where he was, which could sometimes happen, but this time the Doctor simply didn’t have the faintest idea. He stared at the door. Whatever was outside, he could feel that it was something he was unable to explain. Was it fear? The Doctor wasn’t scared so easily and yet… He couldn’t name it and yet he was certain that this feeling had occupied his mind before. It hadn’t been there in a long while.

He had to go outside.

The deserted beach brought everything back. The fear, the tears, the loneliness, the disappointment, the unspoken words he had desperately wanted to say but didn’t. And she was there. _How can she be here?_ the Doctor’s mind wanted to ask, but every thought disappeared in the rough wind over the sea.

She was alone; she had been staring over the waves, waiting. Why or for what she couldn’t really explain, but this strange, familiar feeling had passed through her as well and when she had heard that wheezing sound she froze and turned.

For a moment the Doctor was seriously considering to simply get back into the TARDIS, slam the door behind him and run away. So far running away had always gotten him out of almost every situation. But this was different. He couldn’t leave. Not like this. Not this time.

Obviously she was older, more mature. Nevertheless, she still had that golden hair, those rosy cheeks, and, even though she didn’t show it, the Doctor could still see that bright smile on her lips that made everyone happy.

She moved first. Slowly but without hesitation she walked towards the blue box. The Doctor was motionless. He still had the chance to get back in the TARDIS, but instead he now found himself taking a step as well, although much more reluctantly. They looked at each other while they walked, the Doctor’s mind wanted him to look away, to sink his head, but he didn’t and neither did she.

The Doctor was unable to read her face. He didn’t know if he would get punched, hugged, smiled at, or slapped in a few seconds. Every scenario ran through his head and yet he couldn’t come up with any logical or illogical outcome.

They both stopped at the same time. Standing not two feet apart, they looked at each other.

The Doctor was almost painfully aware how much different his grey hair and new face looked compared to the last time they had seen each other. But she didn’t seem to have changed at all. She was still the young shop-assistant whose workplace he had blown up so many years ago.

“You’ve changed,” she eventually said. “Again.”

“Twice,” he replied.

“Oh.” She scrutinised him. “Well, you’ve never been one for the safe places.”

The Doctor tried to smile, but didn’t manage it.

“She looks new too.” She nodded towards the TARDIS in the distance.

“But she’s still the same old girl,” the Doctor replied as casually as he could. “I just redecorated.”

“I don’t like it.”

 _‘Everyone’s a critique,’_ he normally would have said now, but he couldn’t say it to her.

“How long has it been?” he asked instead.

“Ten years.”

“And are you and…” He needed to pause for a moment before he could speak. “You and the Doctor are you still….” Why couldn’t he say it?

She nodded as she pulled a strand of her blonde hair out of her face. “We have a house here. It’s hard to explain, we come here once or twice every year…” She looked away. Even she couldn’t say it.

The Doctor wasn’t sure if he should feel relieved, angry, or confused. For this one moment he decided to feel nothing.

“What about you?” It felt like she forced herself to ask. “Is there someone with you?”

The Doctor shook his head. “There were people I found acceptable enough to travel with, but…” Why was he so desperately trying to be funny? “As you know I work better alone anyway.”

“No you don’t.” She said it with such ease and certainty. “What happened to them?”

It didn’t feel right to tell her, and yet he also felt like he had to. “I’ve lost them. They died…” He looked away.

She didn’t seem surprised or angry with him although he almost wanted her to be.

“How long has it been?” was she now the one to ask. “How old are you?”

“2000 years.”

“Finally the face fits the number.”

They both shared the smile.

“You’ve gone more northern again,” she said amused. “Scottish now, are we?”

“I just picked it up,” the Doctor replied, now more at ease. “I find the accent much more efficient to complain about things and correcting you humans.”

There it was. This wonderful, uplifting laugh of which he had so many memories.

“Even after 1100 years you still need to work on your politeness.”

“Has never been my strength as you know.”

They looked into each other’s eyes. It was like they could tell each other every story imaginable and yet were unable to say anything that carried any meaning. There were so many things to say and even more things they didn’t dare telling.

“Are you still travelling then? You and the Doctor?” It was hard for him to imagine her with a man who both was and wasn’t him without putting himself in his place.

“Sometimes,” she answered slowly. “But we often found ourselves back here, so we also kinda settled down…” She had something on her mind, but was unable to utter it.

The Doctor desperately tried to find something to address, talking was the only thing of which he thought he could reach her.

“How’s… Ti- Tom- Tommy?”

She shook her head and laughed. “Tony is fine, finishing his fifth year at school soon. Mum’s quite proud, though very insistent on homework. He usually just runs away from her when she asks about school.”

“Well, she’s always had that effect on people.”

She gave him a hard, but playful shove. The Doctor, however, was studying her, deep in thought.

“Do you-“

“Mummy!”

She turned towards the sandbank in the distance and smiled. The Doctor didn’t move. He couldn’t turn around.

The boy came running over the wet sand, his light brown hair falling in his face which was dominated by a bright grin. She walked towards him and picked him up, then she looked towards the Doctor. Slowly she went back.

The child had his hair and her eyes and looked at the Doctor as though he was meeting a stranger.

“John, this is an old friend of mine,” she said to him. “Say hello.”

“Hello.” The boy sounded almost lovingly shy.

The Doctor stared at the child. His mind was empty, his face blank, everything seemed to explode and disappear altogether.

“Hello, John.”

In the corner of his eye he saw something move and now he turned towards the dune from where the child had come.

And there was him, up on the little hill. It was almost strange to see the skinny silhouette not wearing a suit, but the spiky brown hair was unmistakable. He seemed to have grown a light beard although it was difficult to tell from a distance.

They both recognised one another in the same moment. The Doctor neither moved nor said anything and also the man didn’t seem like he wanted to approach.

“You appear to be doing very well then,” the Doctor eventually said simply.

She only nodded. She felt like she had to explain, but she didn’t know where to start or if he even wanted to hear about it.

“What’s the police doing here?” the boy now asked as he was gazing towards the TARDIS and then at the Doctor. “Are you a policeman?”

“I try to be sometimes,” the Doctor replied.

She chuckled. “He wants to be an explorer when he grows up.”

“Oh, good choice!” the Doctor said and John grinned. “And I’m pretty sure your parents will be happy to accompany you on all your adventures.”

John looked up to his mother who smiled and nodded. Then she carefully put him back down.

“Why don’t you run up to dad and tell him about it? I’ll be right with you two.”

John said goodbye to the Doctor and rushed over the sand. He stumbled up the bank where his father came towards him to lift him on his shoulders. The Doctor looked at them for a moment before he turned back.

“He’s just like you,” she said.

“No.” Their eyes met. “He’s like you.”

Again a moment of silence. Both of them opened their mouths, but neither of them found the words. They smiled gently and she turned to look up the dune.

“Do you…” It was unimaginably hard to utter the syllables, even though it was only a simple question. “Do you want to come back with us, we could…”

She didn’t know how to finish the sentence, but the Doctor was already shaking his head.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be,” she replied smiling.

The Doctor wanted to speak, but even now his mind wouldn’t let him. She closed the gap between them and kissed him on the cheek.

“Just be careful, okay?”

She turned away from him and walked towards the two figures in the distance.

The Doctor stared after her, his mind and hearts racing. He had to say something. He wanted to say something to her. This one last time he couldn’t just be silent. He hadn’t uttered it in years.

“Rose”

She turned back. The Doctor simply stood there, and there was nothing else he had to or wanted to do. Once more there was this gentle smile as she waved good-bye and then turned around.

Slowly the Doctor made his way back to his TARDIS. As he fumbled for the key he dared to look back one last time. She was taking John by the hand and leading him downhill. But he remained on the sandbank one moment longer and looked at the Doctor. The two Time Lords nodded then the lock of the TARDIS snapped open.

The Doctor stepped inside and remained next to the closed door for quite some time. He didn’t sigh, he didn’t cry, he didn’t make one sound. Eventually he went up to the console, slowly pulling a few levers and pushing some buttons. He wasn’t quite aware of what he was doing, but the column in the middle started to move and the engine hummed softly. The Doctor left the console behind and wandered into the endless corridors of the TARDIS where he would in time lose and find himself without saying anything. 


End file.
